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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. When will it ________________ you to start?
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. band — a ring
  3. scale — in music
  4. scale — size or range
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. land — a country
  7. clip — for paper
  8. land — to come down
  9. last — to go on
  10. clip — a video
  11. stock — shares
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. band — a music group
  14. capital — a city
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. suit — in cards
  17. stock — goods
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. capital — money
  20. last — final
  21. suit — to fit
  22. clip — to cut
  23. last — finally
  24. suit — clothes

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com